Red Balloons
by Rhiannon10
Summary: Introspective Duo, 80's techno pop, and one really wired authoress and her searching-for-meaning muse. (It's not a humor fic... or it's not supposed to be, anyways.)


Title: 99 Red Balloons  
  
Notes: Math Lesson for the Day-1 authoress + 1 chocolate shake + 2 Pepsis + 12 o'clock at night + 142 GW Fanfics read in one day +"99 Red Balloons" playing over and over and over =  
  
This fic.  
  
You've been warned.  
  
Disclaimer, Claimer and Such: You know, just for the feel of it, I'm gonna say I own Gundam Wing. Yeah, they're all mine. I own them all. Mine, mine mine. Ok, I feel better now. I own nothing.  
  
// You and I in a little toy shop  
  
Buy a bag of balloons with the money we've got.  
  
Set them free at the break of dawn  
  
'Til one by one, they were gone.  
  
Back at base, bugs in the software  
  
Flash the message, Something's out there.  
  
Floating in the summer sky.  
  
99 red balloons go by.//  
  
Duo sang along to the music coming from the CD player, reading from a large binder in front of him. [1] Heero sat on his bed, working on his laptop, trying to ignore the techno 80's pop coming from the speakers. Eventually, Heero gave up his losing battle. No one can ignore techno 80's pop for very long. Duo looked up from the binder, grinning at his partner. "You like the song?" he asked. "What is it supposed to be about?" Heero inquired, pretending to stare at the laptop screen. Duo shrugged. "War, I think. Also some red balloons. There are, apparently, 99 of them." Duo grinned at the death glare Heero sent him.  
  
//99 red balloons.  
  
floating in the summer sky.  
  
Panic bells, it's red alert.  
  
There's something here from somewhere else.  
  
The war machine springs to life.  
  
Opens up one eager eye.  
  
Focusing it on the sky.  
  
Where 99 red balloons go by.//  
  
"How is it about war?" Heero asked, starting to type again. Duo stopped singing in mid-phrase and looked over at Heero, slightly puzzled. "Uhm. . . well, it's kinda saying war is stupid and starts over stupid things. Like in the first verse- the whole thing, the war in this song, started cause some kids sent up some balloons they bought, and the software thought it was an attack. I think. That's my guess." [2] Heero raised an eyebrow. "I doubt balloons would start a war." Duo shrugged, returning to his reading. "Who knows? Maybe that's how this war started." Heero rolled his eyes. Duo continued his explanation of the song. "The second verse is about how people always want to fight. 'The war machine springs to life, opens up one eager eye'- people are eager to fight."  
  
//99 Decision Street.  
  
99 ministers meet.  
  
To worry, worry, super-scurry.  
  
Call the troops out in a hurry.  
  
This is what we've waited for.  
  
This is it boys, this is war.  
  
The president is on the line  
  
As 99 red balloons go by.//  
  
"That's how we started this war- the colonies wanted to fight." Heero commented. Duo nodded, then paused in his singing. "And a bunch of important people made decisions, not knowing what the soldiers would be going through." Heero shrugged, and resumed typing one-handed. [3] "They think we want to fight," Duo said, a hint of bitterness entering his voice. Heero looked up, mildly surprised by his cheerful partner's tone. "'This is it boys, this is war,'" Duo quoted softly.  
  
//99 Knights of the air  
  
Ride super-high-tech jet fighters  
  
Everyone's a superhero.  
  
Everyone's a Captain Kirk.  
  
With orders to identify.  
  
To clarify and classify.  
  
Scramble in the summer sky.  
  
As 99 red balloons go by.//  
  
"We're not all hero's, are we, Heero?" Duo said sadly. Though he'd included his friend's name, the question wasn't really directed at the other boy. "99 plus how many more thousands in our 'super-high-tech jet fighters.'" Duo sighed, flipping a page in the binder. "How many summer skies have we fought in, how many beautiful days have we destroyed?" Heero turned off the laptop and moved it aside, looking at the braided boy across the room from him. "Duo, are you-" He began to ask if Duo was ok, but stopped. He obviously wasn't. Heero hesitated, then tried again. "What's wrong?" Duo shrugged, carefully keeping his eyes on the page. "I'm just sick of killing, Heero. Nothing odd for a teenage terrorist."  
  
//99 dreams I have had.  
  
In every one a red balloon.  
  
It's all over and I'm standing pretty.  
  
In this dust that was a city.  
  
If I could find a souvenir.  
  
Just to prove the world was here.  
  
And here is a red balloon  
  
I think of you and let it go.//  
  
"No, not odd at all." Heero replied. Duo smiled weakly and sang under his breath, but not for long. "'Just to prove the world was here,'" he repeated. Heero bit his lip. "You're upset over the mission, aren't you," he said finally. Duo nodded. "That was practically a whole city," he said softly. "Not all of them were soldiers- hell, probably less than a third." He sighed heavily. "We're destroying the world by trying to save it, and the only souvenirs left will be the remains of our Gundams." Heero shook his head. "We'll survive," he said. "So will the world." Duo shrugged and smiled. "Yeah."  
  
Footnotes: [1] Duo is reading the Great Fic Binder. This belongs to my friend- the one who started me on the path to insanity. Any fics that she really, really likes she prints and puts in the Fic Binder. Duo is reading it. Yes, he is reading fics about himself. Get over it.  
  
[2] Mine too.  
  
[3] This is a point of much concern for me. Heero's bleeding ambidextrous (oooh- big word!)- why the hell does he type with only his right hand? Seriously, any time he's on the laptop, he types with his right hand. EXCEPT in Endless Waltz, when he and Duo are going to X18-999 (hee- I keep waiting for someone in the movie to screw up the name) he types with both hands. But I think that's cause he's doing two things at once.  
  
CFEOSN: Hah, you thought the footnotes were the notes. You were wrong! Ok, it's really late and I'm totally wired, but I don't care. Uhm, hey, I did a fic featuring Heero and Duo and there's no pairing! Unless you want to translate "partner" differently. ::shrugs:: I seem to be doing these odd little war-introspective pieces lately. My muse is on some finding-meaning- in-chaos bender. Oh well. I'll go away now, before the notes become longer than the fic. 


End file.
